Catholic schools are “really just institutions that seek to live out the Catholic faith in a concrete way, whether it be in charity work, education, or some other endeavor,” according to the chancellor of the Diocese of Corpus Christi, Texas.

Many cases of Catholic school employees fired for conduct violations such as becoming pregnant out of wedlock or marrying a member of the same sex have created media maelstroms, pleading petitions, and punitive lawsuits, but Nguyen says schools must stand up for their rights.

“When an employee publicly lives or advocate things contrary to Catholic faith and morals and makes no movements to correct the situation,” Nguyen told the Catholic News Agency, “the institution should have the right to determine whether their continued employment is an inconsistency with the integrity of the mission of the institution.”

In that same piece, attorney Scott Browning said that “the First Amendment allows religious people to live their faith free from being controlled by the government. This freedom of religion is at the core of the American system.”

He reminded readers that the U.S. Supreme Court case, Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC, was issued unanimously in 2012 and affirmed a “ministerial exception” which immunizes religious schools against virtually all forms of workplace discrimination lawsuits.

Browning made clear that for those who don’t like Catholic school policies, there are myriad secular alternatives.

Thomas Aquinas College students release powerful Lenten video

Thomas Aquinas College is offering a beautiful five-minute student-made video on its website featuring “The Franciscan Way of the Cross,” accompanied by photographs of the college’s life-size Stations of the Cross and a student choir, Chrysostomos.

The college encourages viewers to sign up for an e-mailed prayer reminder each morning of Lent, as well as a special intention prepared each day by the school’s chaplain Fr. Paul Raftery, O.P. College president Dr. Michael McLean said response to the video has been “extraordinary.”

Victorian Association of Catholic Primary School Principals released a report commissioned by the principals’ association that recommended an overhaul of school governance.

President of the association and Warrnambool’s St Joseph’s Primary School principal Michael Gray said parish priests do not always have the training or time to perform a management role within primary schools, including hiring.

“Parish priests have a commitment to pastoral care…. that’s a big role and very time consuming,” he said, while pushing to have priests perform more of a ceremonial role for special celebrations and school events. Here’s the takeaway line from the story:

“Mr. Gray said under the reform plan, Catholic identity and faith-based learning in schools would not change, but priests would take on more of a ceremonial role for special celebrations and school events.”

Demoting priests to “ceremonial” positions in Catholic schools is a disturbing idea and would almost certainly lead to a watering down of the schools’ Catholic identity over time.

Catholic school collects diapers for mothers in need

As part of Catholic schools week, students at Mother Seton School in Maryland participated in a service project to collect diapers to benefit a local pregnancy center, reported the Herald Mail.

Several parishes in the area also lent their support and in total, they collected 8,646 diapers.

Wonderful! And the event taught children the incontrovertible truth that if you’re going to be pro-life, you have to be pro-diaper.

Lewis (D-Ga.) will visit Saint Joseph’s next month to deliver a talk about his civil rights work.

In a news release, the Catholic university said that Lewis was “known for his great courage and unflinching dedication to protecting human rights.”

Saint Joseph’s President Mark Reed said the congressman “embodies all that we strive to nurture in our own students—empathy, courage, commitment, action and unwavering service to justice.”

Sadly, Lewis’ dedication to human rights has hardly been “unwavering” as he has been a reliable vote for abortion for decades, even voting to keep the grisly procedure known as partial-birth abortion legal.

Cortez Masto, who graduated from Gonzaga Law, voted against the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act in January. “I was proud to vote against this & will always oppose any bill that restricts a woman’s right to choose,” she tweeted.

Boston College to host Vagina Monologues

Boston College is celebrating 16 years of hosting The Vagina Monologues, the disgusting play by Eve Ensler.

The student newspaper said the cast made up of BC students “delivered a hilarious introduction skit, endowing the vaginas of Boston College with highly vulgar monikers.

“Lesbian and transgender women were included in the dialogue of The Vagina Monologues as well,” the student newspaper assured readers. During one monologue, a “southern belle character detailed how a beautiful older woman taught her to love her [private parts] again despite a youth of horrifying experiences with men, including rape.”